Left column house ads

Twitter

Au Cheval in ChiBeCa?

When word came out that someone is planning a restaurant at 79 Walker (at the southeast corner of Cortlandt Alley), I suggested that the operator would probably be someone who knew he/she could draw folks to the out-of-the-way location. Sure enough, it’s Brendan Sodikoff’s Chicago-based Hogsalt group, which just opened its first restaurant in New York City, 4 Charles Prime Rib.

Back in December, Sodikoff told Crain’s that he was scouting locations for a New York City branch of his popular all-day diner Au Cheval (above), and this sounds a lot like it. According to the liquor-license application, the establishment—as yet unnamed—will be a “coffee bar on the ground floor w/ diner-style concept on the basement level,” although the floor plan (below) tells a different story. And the menu submitted is Au Cheval’s (below), but with the name redacted.

The establishment will have 128 seats at 37 tables, with nine more seats at coffee bar, and play “classic 80s music.” The requested operating hours are 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., with a doorperson after 8 p.m. “to check IDs and control the noise of guests both entering and exiting the building.” And there are plans to apply for a sidewalk café.

The application will be discussed by the Community Board 1 Licensing and Permits Committee on May 10 at the Municipal Building. I won’t be able to attend, so if anyone is planning on going, please file a report on what happens. UPDATE 5/11: Hogsalt was coy about what the name will be, according to someone who attended the meeting.